2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries

Communication
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BEST PRACTICES 2012
There is simply not enough time in the day or money in the travel fund to visit or
call each person who has a question. If you consider the concept of business hours,
there is even less time. Luckily, I am not limited to regular business hours and
technology affords me the option to communicate with people when it is convenient
for me and vice-versa.
Email - It has become the center of the universe. It offers the customer the
ability to lay out a problem and request a solution. It offers me the option to
reply at a convenient time and have a written record of the request.
Online meetings – Telecommuting is gaining popularity and I can see why.
Gas is too expensive. While a face-to-face meeting is always nice, a lot of
business can be taken care of on the phone and via online meetings. Tools
like Webex allow us to share our computer screens and easily walk someone
through a task or show them how you would solve a research problem. It is
almost as good as walking over to someone’s office, leaning over their
shoulder and walking them through a process.
Telephone – Yes, we still use it… a lot. This invention certainly has some
staying power!
Smartphones – You can do all of the above, and you can still go to your
son’s soccer game! I have even been known to have brief project-related
discussions via text or chat while in the grocery store. I am certainly not a
natural multi-tasker, but how much easier can it get?
Collaboration
Document sharing – I work with several analysts/information professionals
who are experts in different areas. Online document sharing via services
such as Google Docs or wikis via a service like PBworks allow me to
collaborate with my colleagues on research methodology, edit each other’s
reports, and share research for a combined project. I think of these services
as my virtual conference table with all the work laid out and ready to be
reviewed, pieced together, or discussed.
I also use document sharing services to post reports that are too large to
email or that need to be marked up by the customer and returned. It helps
to keep track of changes and versions. It also saves on printing and binding
final reports.
Professional community – Having a group of reliable professionals on whom
you can rely is imperative. This could be your colleagues or an outside
organization. The point is that we have somewhere to turn when we need
assistance. I belong to an organization called the Association of
Independent Information Professionals. This is a group of men and women
who are experts in their fields and specialize in retrieving and organizing
information. I find them indispensable. The group has a listserv to which I
have never submitted a question without receiving several on-point
responses within a few hours. I will be the first to admit I do not know all